


The Happiness of A Most Beloved Sister

by interstellar_burst



Series: A number of conversations about one or two things [1]
Category: Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Genre: F/M, Little Sisters, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Content, New York City, Romance, Siblings, Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-13
Updated: 2013-07-13
Packaged: 2017-12-19 08:29:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/881655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/interstellar_burst/pseuds/interstellar_burst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You can get to know each other without sacrificing half your paycheck," Lizzie grumbled. "In any case, how's it working now? Don't tell me he's sleeping on the couch."</p><p>"Um, well ..."</p><p>"Oh, my god, Jane Bennet, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Happiness of A Most Beloved Sister

Jane was startled awake. Her hair matted into her face where she had been using the edge of the couch as a pillow. The book that she was reading was now wedged between the cushions and her chest.

She gazed blearily at the other end of the couch, where Bing was looking rather abashed.

"Sorry. I got a little carried away. Arsenal just scored another goal."

Jane tried to smile, but mostly she was just very aware of the fact that Bing had -- probably unconsciously -- wrapped his whole hand around her foot, one of which was peeking from under the hem of her long skirt. She didn't want to move at all, but it was necessary if she was going to show interest in this goal.

She got up and stretched her legs. She debated sitting back down directly next to him, but the small part of the couch that wasn’t previously occupied by either Jane or Bing was covered with paper. Bing must have seen this thought playing out on her face, because he quickly shoved the papers to the coffee table before she could argue. Blushing, Jane took the seat.

The broadcasters replayed the goal, and the goal celebration. Bing exuded contentment, and he reached behind Jane and slung his arm around the couch.

"Two to nothing. That's great." Jane sunk back into his arm. He hummed non-committally.

“Yes. So exciting that you fell asleep,” Bing chuckled. Perhaps she shouldn’t have tried to match his five a.m. wake-up call when she herself didn’t need to get to the Meatpacking District until nine. "They win, but don't make it to the next round."

"Why not? That's insane ..."

"Well, there are two legs, so each team gets to play at their home stadium. But goals you score at the away match count for more than the ones you score at home. Arsenal scored two goals away from home, but the other team scored three, so they get to go to the next round."

“Well, that’s …fair and not fair.” Jane didn’t understand sports at all, but Bing enjoyed this particular one, so she would try.

“It definitely drives people crazy at first. Well, Americans.” He brought a hand down to her upper arm, his fingers leaving a trail of goosebumps on the bare skin. “You want your laptop back?”

Jane was, at the moment, very awake again but saw no need to be on her laptop, which Bing had asked to commandeer to half-watch the soccer replay while he was using his own to look over spreadsheets of patient information. Nevertheless, the fact that it was only eight meant that she didn’t exactly feel like turning in for the night.

Well, maybe she _did_ feel like it, but their current sleeping arrangements necessitated that Bing stay in the living room.

Before she had yet another argument with herself over the rationality of said arrangements, her phone beeped at her from the coffee table. She picked it up and saw that Lizzie had sent a text: _Call me if you are up/not busy._

“Lizzie wants me to call her,” she turned away from Bing, who nodded and got back to the laptop. She dialed, and Lizzie picked up almost immediately.

“Hi. Thanks for calling.” Jane detected a breathless quality that was nevertheless happy in her sister’s voice. The worry that hadn't yet abated in regards to her sisters now eased away from her shoulders.

“Of course. It’s so good to hear your voice, Lizzie,” Jane said, meaning it. Her stay in Los Angeles had made her aware of how terribly lonely it could be. Bing mitigated that feeling nicely, but still …

“Are you … by yourself?” By the hesitation, she guessed that Bing’s ears were not entirely welcome to this conversation. Jane turned back to Bing and signaled that she was going into the other room.

“I am now. Shoot," Jane said after closing the bedroom door.

“Darcy’s in town. He came by a few days ago and … I guess … we’re … together … now.”

Lizzie’s voice was shaky, excited ... and bewildered, expectant, but above all, so very relieved.

“Oh, honey, I’m so happy for you.” Indeed, her heart was feeling fit to burst; she had to sit down on the bed.

“Well,” Lizzie laughed nervously. “Don’t fake anything on my account. You of all people are free to hate him with the fire of a thousand suns for at least a little while.”

“But I _don’t_ , Lizzie.” Jane answered, not wanting to give Lizzie an inch to be dissatisfied. “I really don’t.” Lizzie sighed.

“You are … entirely too good of a person, Jane Bennet.” Jane ignored it; it was something people said on reflex to anyone in her generation whose first response to everything was not sarcasm. “Anyway, I wasn’t … I mean, I wanted to tell you because, well, you’re probably too busy for the videos --”

“I’ve caught up.” How could she not? Her sister had, before asking for permission to post the video of her reconciliation with Bing, warned her that viewers of _The Lizzie Bennet Diaries_ were quite concerned about what would become of the two of them. 

It was all rather dire-looking. Bing, she had to admit, looked foolish and unmoored, while she seemed to be in some kind of frozen state of denial. She still had mixed feelings about presenting her make-out session to the internet, but she was willing to admit that it bookended a part of Lizzie's narrative.

(She was, however, relieved that she and Bing were now following their own private storyline.)

“Oh, ok.” Lizzie interrupted her thoughts. “Well … I guess you saw Caroline … “ Jane rolled her eyes. “Did Bing see it?”

“He did. He … still doesn’t feel like talking to her.” Jane picked at the bedspread. “I hope you don’t hold what she said against her too much, Lizzie. She wasn’t --”

“Well, you saw the video. I invited her to dinner!”

“Yes, and your teeth are quite straight when gritted together.” Lizzie let out an exasperated breath.

“You know I’ll get over it eventually.” Lizzie answered petulantly. “In any case, I ‘ _got_ ’ the guy. Between the two of us, I’m the one who has to be magnanimous.”

“ _Lizzie_ … “ Jane resisted the urge to point out that her sister, the advertised feminist, was fighting with another woman over a man. “Caroline is Bing’s sister, and I --”

“You said that he wasn’t talking to her, either.”

“Well, I’m trying to remedy that, you know.”

“Of course you are.” Lizzie sighed. “Our future sister-in-law.”

Jane’s eyes widened, and she started sputtering in spite of herself. Lizzie only laughed.

“Jane, he quit med school and switched _coasts_ for you.”

Indeed. Jane couldn't deny the twist in her gut that told her that ... Bing was hers, for better or for worse. Still, watching the videos, it was clear that he had some growing up to do, and she at first didn't want to get in his way for a while.

Dragging him to New York City and then living with him in a one bedroom apartment contradicted that plan pretty strongly.

 _It's temporary!_ Jane argued with herself silently. Out loud, she answered:

"He knows he had to come for himself."

"Well, he did ... in that he wanted _you_. Speaking of which ..." Lizzie was about to try and wheedle something out of her. "How's the apartment-hunting going?"

"Lizzie."

"You know it's silly, right? Rent is over a grand for a shoe box in Brooklyn!"

"It's not silly. We've ... We need ... some time, Lizzie. To get to know each other again. I was entirely serious about that."

"You can get to know each other without sacrificing half your paycheck," Lizzie grumbled. "In any case, how's it working now? Don't tell me he's sleeping on the couch."

"Um, well ..."

"Oh, my _god_ , Jane Bennet, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME."

Jane held the phone away from her ear. Sometimes, Lydia had nothing on Lizzie.

"Lizzie," she sighed. "I know your sense of drama demands that we fall into bed together at the first opportunity, but ... I need to learn how to trust him, he needs to learn how to trust himself. It would be a total distraction right now if ..."

She left it there. Old and New Jane agreed that she should have just stuck to her plan of crashing in a friend's living room rather than commandeering the bedroom in Greenpoint (never mind that said friend lived in Bushwick). Bing was taller and less adaptable to the narrow space of a couch than she was.

Nevertheless, Bing showed no sign of being annoyed with the temporary apartment, having to sleep on the couch, and at this current moment, sharing it with her. As if in confirmation, the places where Bing had most recently touched her began to pulse. She placed an absent hand on her upper arm.

"That makes ... entirely too much sense, Jane." Lizzie assented. "In any case ... it's ok if you talk to Bing about ... me and Darcy. One way or another, he's going to know."

"Ok."

"Just ... smooth it over, maybe? Darcy's his best friend, but Caroline is his sister. I don't know how he'll ..." Jane tutted.

"He'll console Caroline as well as he can, but Darcy ... " Jane paused, remembering what Bing had told her about why he transferred from Harvard to Stanford and how they had become friends. "Darcy needed this." Lizzie pulled a sharp breath, but said nothing.

"Lizzie?"

"I was so awful to him, Jane. I can't believe he still loves me." Lizzie's voice almost dropped to a whisper.

"Is it so unbelievable?" Jane smiled.

"I'm the bitch who berated him in front of thousands of people."

"You're not a bitch, Lizzie."

"I can't possibly deserve this."

"Please. You are very good for each other, I think. At the very least you can go tandem on telling everyone in the world how they're wrong."

"Aww," Lizzie cooed. "I love you, Jane."

"I love you too, Lizzie. Now," she said, matter-of-factly, "How are mom and dad doing?"

"They miss you, but otherwise ... They're driving each other crazy like they always do."

"Lydia?" Jane could hear some fidgeting, and her shoulders tensed again.

"You've seen the videos. I think she's doing better, but ..."

Contrary to the way they were all reacting, it was not quite so strange to see Lydia subdued even before George; but Jane guessed that it would take some time before they got used to it, particularly Lizzie.

Lydia saw Jane as a mother hen type -- to be humored, or flattered into submission. There was a certain amount of deference due. Lizzie’s relationship with Lydia had always been more tempestuous because they were so utterly alike.

Lizzie was likely blaming herself for everything.

Jane thought that it was rather useless to even hypothetically wonder why her sisters never listened to her the first time.

"I'm sorry I can't be there," she said at length. "But I don't think I'd have any great ideas about her even if I was." Lizzie was silent for a long time.

"Lizzie ...?"

"Between her and Darcy, I feel like ... like ..."

"I know. But ..." Jane bit her lip. "It hasn't been easy, watching you two go through this."

Her sister didn't answer, so she continued.

"But I couldn't exactly just tell you why _you_ were wrong or tell Lydia why _she_ was wrong. I had to let you ... " She thought about Bing. "Sometimes we have to take these huge missteps, even run off the rails, in order to have clarity about what we should be doing, where we should actually be."

"If you say so," Lizzie finally sighed.

"Lydia made a mistake, but she's going to recover. She’s  … strong-willed. Like you.” Then they both fell silent. 

“And you, too … “ Lizzie finally assented, her voice affectionate. Jane glanced out the window, where the Manhattan skyline glittered in the distance. She supposed Lizzie was right: all three of them had chased after things they wanted, without guarantee of success.

"We all make mistakes," Jane continued. "That doesn't mean we should reject opportunities to be happy."

"You know me. I consistently reject opportunities to be happy." Lizzie paused. "There's a strong chance I'm going to make hash out of this."

"Oh, Lizzie, why can't you just … “ She recalled the feeling of Bing burying his face in her hair in their den at home -- bewildered, expectant, relieved. “Life actually turns out quite sweet sometimes."

"Until I have your goodness, I can never have your happiness." But Lizzie sounded amused now. "You'd better leave me to fend for myself."

Jane surmised that her sister would probably have made a set of much less dramatic videos, had their mother not forced them to attend the Gibson wedding. She'd take away George Wickham in a heartbeat. But neither would she be here. 

"No," Jane shook her head. "Never."

***

When Jane emerged from the room, Bing looked up at her from the couch with a concerned face.

“Everything’s fine,” she assured him. She saw that her laptop was closed. “Done with the match?” Bing nodded, and she noticed that the spot next to him was still clear of paper. She also noticed that music was playing at a very low volume from his laptop. She could pick up the rest of the evening from where his hand grazed her arm, if she wanted.

She wished it wasn’t so easy to distract him.

She wished she wasn’t so easily distracted, but first things first.

“Um … Apparently, Darcy is … in town.” Bing smiled widely. “You knew about this?”

“Well, not anything specific. I got this text a couple of days ago … ‘going to Netherfield.’ I told him to go ahead and haven’t heard since.”

Jane had to concede that men probably didn’t go around gushing about their grand romantic plans to each other.

She sat down, and this time, Bing dumped the laptop on the coffee table and pulled Jane into his arms. She could feel herself sag against him as he kissed her hair, her temple, the spot behind her ear.

“Bennet sisters are a tough get.” She swatted her hand against his side.

“Don’t start,” she laughed. At this, he was quiet; she was coming to love the feel of his breathing underneath her fingers.

She was also struggling to remember the other thing she was supposed to tell him.

Oh, right.

“You need to call your sister.” Bing sighed resignedly.

“Man, she’s going to be _pissed_. _Off_.”

“ _Bing_. You know she didn’t mean anything she said.”

“So ... what, I’m only a _slightly_ helpless moron?” Bing played with the ends of her hair. “No, you’re right, of course." He went silent again. 

She glanced up to look at his face.

His brow was furrowed, speaking less to annoyance than worry.

“Is she ... Will Caroline eventually ... ?”

He let out a breath.

“Of course. But in the meantime, it's going to be a bumpy ride. I tried warning her a few times about ... well about ..." Jane nodded her head against his shoulder. 

"But it's not necessarily easy to ... I mean, it's essentially girl talk, right? She already thinks I'm a doormat incapable of independent thought." Bing paused, his voice going quiet and his mouth lingering in her hair. "That said ... in this particular area of discussion, she wouldn't have been too far wrong." 

“I doubt anyone can claim to know everything, and act correctly, all the time, especially about this kind of stuff. " 

At that thought, Jane scooted closer, and Bing responded by tightening his hold.

"Also, we can't always protect our siblings," she said after a moment. "If they're anything like my sisters, they won't listen anyway." Bing's chuckle rumbled under her ear.

"I think we can safely say the same thing about Caroline."

She closed her eyes against his shirt. This was so new that her heart clenched to stumble upon experiences that connected them.

“You’ll call her tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow.”

Jane raised her head and sighed out into Bing's collar. She was through talking for the night.

***

Later, after two hours of restless sleep, Jane was forced to rise from the bed and turn on the bedside lamp. She didn't bother to tell herself that it was for a drink of water like she had a few nights ago. She padded as softly as she could to the bedroom door, noticing that the light in the living area was still on.

It was around one a.m., so she wasn't surprised to see Bing stretched out on the sofa, fast asleep. At least he'd gotten into his pajamas first. Otherwise, everything else was laid out as they were when she left for bed: his laptop open, papers all over the coffee table. An arm dangled over the edge of the sofa, and his knee was crooked at what seemed like an uncomfortable angle.

Her breath hitched.

Jane didn't believe that people actually _ached_ from want, but the idea of being back in the bed alone was physically repellent right now. In any case, it was one reason why her fingers trembled as she reached out and cupped her palm over his jaw.

He turned into it and nuzzled. She tried to keep her voice steady.

"Bing? _Bing_ ," she whispered. His eyes slowly opened.

"Jane?" he asked, still mostly asleep. "'S' rong?"

"Come on. We can still have our conditions without you falling off the couch."

He was awake now.

Jane didn't want him to see what was happening to her face at the moment, so she turned and busied herself with picking up the extra pillow and blanket in the living room. Behind her, Bing shut his laptop closed, turned off the light, and followed her to the bedroom. She stopped just as they were both inside the door.

 _Darn it_. She actually had to speak again for this.

"I don't know if you have a side you ..." Her hand flailed in the direction of the bed, and when she finally had the courage to meet his eyes, her stomach rolled. His hair was standing up in the back, and the sleepiness did little to disguise the smile. ( _My god, was he actually smirking?)_ He nodded towards the side the Jane had left intact, the one further from the window.

"That side's fine," he said, as if they were discussing where to put furniture.

Jane handed him the pillow and blanket and moved to what she assumed would now be _her_ side. Bing lobbed the extra blanket aside on the floor and put the pillow down where his head would lay. Jane shut off the bedside lamp once they were both in the bed.

She scooted herself back down under the blanket and turned slightly away from the middle; it didn't seem right to turn her back on him. And yet ...

There were no rules about just sleeping together; they had ended up doing just that on the couch, once. Neither were there any specific prohibitions to a variety of other activities in other places. But Jane observed that there would be little in the bedroom to stop them as, say, a hissing tea kettle would in the kitchen.

Jane was about to say something about certain limits still in effect, but it died on her lips as she felt the bed shift and Bing's arm drape over her middle. She could feel the bridge of his nose buried between the back of her neck and the pillow. He took a deep, chest-filling breath and let it out slowly, slowly, as her eyes fell shut at the sensation of warm air ghosting down her upper back.

She kept waiting for the full length of his body to scoot against hers, but he didn't move any further.

She was relieved, as it seemed that her heart was beating loud enough to wake the dead, and Bing needed the sleep. She could feel his breath becoming more regular, but before she let him go --

"Do you need to set the alarm for tomorrow?" she whispered. Her voice was unexpectedly hoarse.

Bing uttered what she thought was an answer in the negative, but instead felt like a couple of soft grunting sounds burrowing their way under her skin.

"Ok," she said, finally willing herself to fall, expectant, but so very relieved.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. I didn't really mean to write anything romantic. Like ever ...  
> 2\. ... because romance is difficult to write well, so I'm not actually terribly satisfied with this story.  
> 3\. However, I wanted to write about Lizzie telling Jane about Darcy and Bing obviously had to play a part.  
> 4\. Based on the timeline of LBD, I may be reverse-engineering my way to some other part of the series.  
> 5\. The soccer fandom comes from me.  
> 6\. UPDATED to extend a conversation.


End file.
